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She looked up again at the pretty clouds. Just as she did, some big dark thing swooped low over the trees a little way up the hill. It must be some big bird, she thought. Ravens were big, and dark. It must be one of those noisy ravens. She picked up some more sticks. Then she saw a bunch of blueberry bushes, low against the ground in an open place, their leaves starting to turn a flaming red. She threw the sticks down.
She was so hungry, she sat down on the berry bushes and started eating them as fast as she could pick. It was getting late in the year, and the berries were starting to get dry and shriveled, but they were still good. In fact, they tasted wonderful. She started putting one in her pocket for each one she ate. She moved on her hands and knees, picking berries, eating them, and putting them in her pocket. It was getting darker. Once in a while, she looked up at the pretty clouds. They were getting a darker color. Purple.
When her stomach felt better, and her pocket was full, she picked the sticks up and went back to the wayward pine. Once back inside, she untied the cloth that was around the bread and dumped the berries from her pocket onto the cloth. She sat down and ate the berries off the cloth as she chatted with Sara, offering to share her berries as she ate. Sara didn’t eat many. Rachel wished she had a mirror. She wished she could look in a mirror at her hair. Earlier in the day, she had seen herself in a dark pool. Her hair looked so wonderful, all even. Richard was such a nice man to cut it for her.
She missed Richard. She wished he were here now, to run away with her, to hug her. He gave the bestest hugs in the whole world. If Kahlan weren’t so mean, he could give her hugs too. Kahlan would find out then how wonderful his hugs were. For some reason, Rachel missed her, too. Her stories, and her songs, and her fingers on her forehead. Why did she have to be so mean and say she was going to hurt Giller? Giller was one of the nicest men in the world. Giller gave her Sara.
Rachel broke the sticks as best she could, so they would fit in the circle of stones she had made. After stacking them carefully, she pulled out the fire stick.
“Light for me.”
She set the fire stick down on the cloth with the berries and then warmed her hands and ate a few berries while she told Sara some of her troubles, how she wished Richard were hugging her, how she wished Kahlan weren’t mean, how she hoped Kahlan didn’t hurt Giller, how she wished she had something other than berries to eat.
Some bug bit her on the neck. She let out a little squeal and swatted it. There was a little bit of blood on her hand when she took it away. And a fly.
“Look, Sara. Look at how that stupid fly bit me. It made blood.”
Sara seemed sorry for her sting. Rachel ate a few more berries.
Another fly bit her neck. Rachel swatted it, not squealing this time. There was another spot of blood on her hand.
“That hurt!” she told Sara. With a frown, she threw the squished fly in the fire.
The fly that bit her on the arm made her jump. She slapped it flat. Another bit her neck. Rachel flailed at the flies in the air around her face. Two more bit her neck, making blood before she smacked them. Tears welled up in her eyes from the pain of the stings.
“Get away!” she yelled as she waved her hands around.
Some were inside her dress, biting her chest and back. More bit her neck.
Rachel started screaming as she batted at the flies, trying to get them off. Tears streamed down her cheeks. A fly bit the inside of her ear, making her scream even louder. The sound of it buzzing in her ear made her cry and scream as she dug with her finger, trying to get it out. She thrashed her arms as she yelled.
Rachel screamed in a high pitch as she stumbled out of the wayward pine, wiping flies off her eyes. She ran, arms lashing out, trying to get the flies away. The flies followed her as she ran and screamed.
Something in front of her made her stop dead in her tracks.
Her wide eyes worked their way up the giant, fur-covered body of the thing. Its belly was pink, and had flies on it.
Against the fading colors of the sky, it slowly unfolded huge wings, spreading them wide. Not wings covered with feathers, wings covered with skin. Rachel could see big blood veins in them, throbbing.
With all her courage, she put her shaking hand in her pocket. The fire stick wasn’t there. Her legs wouldn’t move. She didn’t even feel the flies that were biting her. She heard a sound like a cat purring, but a lot louder. Her eyes went up further.
Glowing green eyes glared down at her. The purring sound was a low growl.
The mouth opened with a louder growl, lips pulling back, showing its long, curved teeth.
Rachel couldn’t run. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even scream. She shook as her wide eyes looked up into those mean eyes that glowed green. She forgot how to move her feet.
A big claw reached for her.
She felt something warm running down her legs.
38
Richard folded his arms and leaned back against the rock. “Enough!”
Zedd and Kahlan both turned their heads, seeming to have forgotten he was even there. He had been listening to the two of them arguing for at least the last half hour as they sat in front of the fire, and was tired of it. In fact, he was just plain tired. Dinner was long since done and they should be getting some sleep, but instead they were trying to decide what they would do tomorrow when they reached Tamarang. Now, instead of arguing, they started presenting their cases to him.
“I say we march in there and I deal with Giller. He is my student. I will get him to tell me what’s going on. I’m still Wizard of the First Order. He will do as I say. He will give me the box.”
Kahlan pulled her Confessor’s dress from her pack and held it up to Richard. “This is the way we deal with Giller. He is my wizard and he will do as I say because he knows the consequences.”
Richard let out a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “You both want to eat a chicken we haven’t even plucked yet. We aren’t even sure whose chicken it is.”
“What do you mean?” Kahlan asked.
Richard leaned forward. Now he had their attention, at last. “At the very least, Tamarang is giving a sympathetic ear to D’Hara. At the very worst, Darken Rahl is there. Most likely, the fact is somewhere between the two. If we march in there and tell them what we want, they might not like it. Tamarang has a whole standing army to express to us how much they don’t like it. Then what? Are the three of us going to fight a war with their army? How is this going to get us the box? How is it going to even get us to Giller? If we have to fight, I’d rather it be on the way out, not on the way in.”
Richard expected one of them to express some sort of objection while they sat as if being scolded, but neither did, so he went on.
“Maybe Giller is waiting and hoping someone will come, so he can help them get away with the box. Then again, maybe he will not be so willing to part company with it. But we won’t know if we never make it to him, now, will we?” He addressed Zedd. “You told me the box has magic, and a wizard, or Rahl, can feel that magic, but a wizard can also cover the feeling of that magic with a wizard’s web, so the box can’t be detected. That could be why Queen Milena wanted a wizard—to hide the box from Rahl, and use it as a bargaining tool. If we create a big commotion, and scare Giller, no matter how he feels about us, he may be frightened, and use the opportunity to escape. It could also be that Rahl is just waiting for the quarry to be flushed from cover, and then he will pounce.”
Zedd turned to Kahlan. “I think the Seeker has some good points. Perhaps we should hear him out?”
Kahlan smiled a little. “I believe you are correct, good wizard.” She turned to Richard. “What is your way?”
“You’ve dealt with this Queen Milena before, right? What sort of person is she?”
Kahlan needed no time to give it any thought. “Tamarang is a minor and relatively insignificant land. Still, Queen Milena is as pompous and arrogant as any queen comes.”
“A small snake, bu
t a snake that can kill us nonetheless,” Richard noted.
Kahlan nodded. “But a snake with a big head.”
“Small snakes have to be careful, cautious, when they don’t know what they are up against. The first thing we have to do, is to give her a worry. Make her unsure enough not to bite us.”
“What do you mean?” Kahlan asked.
